Surge

Company Overview

Surge is a biotechnology company specializing in high-dimensional immune system analysis combined with artificial intelligence to enable precision medicine. The company was founded in Silicon Valley and is now based in Paris, France. Surge’s mission is to deliver accurate predictions for complication-free surgeries by decrypting the immune system.

The company has developed PreCyte, a flagship product that predicts post-operative complications, and recently inaugurated SurgeLab, a premier laboratory dedicated to the discovery of immune biomarkers. Surge aims to transform healthcare pathways, optimize patient care, and reduce hospitalization stays through its innovative approach to analyzing the immune system.

Products Overview

Surge’s main product is PreCyte, a predictive test for postoperative complications. PreCyte uses a standard blood draw and Surge’s proprietary technology to provide real-time information that allows clinicians to tailor their protocols to the biological needs of individual patients.

The PreCyte technology brings the capacity to: - Provide an accurate prediction of surgical complications to aid surgical decision-making - Enable optimization of individual patients’ perioperative care pathways - Monitor the effectiveness of prevention and treatment protocols throughout the patient journey

Surge has also launched SurgeLab, an analytical laboratory specialized in decrypting the immune system. This platform provides a high-resolution map of the immune system, analyzing several thousand parameters per blood sample.

Additionally, Surge has developed Stabl, a patented AI algorithm that identifies sparse and reliable sets of biomarkers, effectively translating high-dimensional data into clinically relevant signatures.

Founding Team

Surge was founded by:

• Julien Hedou - Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder MS in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, MS in Biomedical Informatics from Stanford University

• Brice Gaudilliere - Advisory Board Member & Co-Founder MS in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique, MD and PhD from Harvard University, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Perioperative & Pain Medicine at Stanford University

The company is led by a team of six individuals from Stanford, Harvard, Sorbonne, and Ecole Polytechnique.

Problem and Market Fit

Surge is addressing the problem of postoperative complications, which affect a significant number of patients undergoing major surgeries. With 63 million elective surgeries performed annually in the US and a 30% complication rate for major surgeries, the impact on patient morbidity and healthcare systems is substantial, leading to extended hospital stays, readmissions, patient suffering, disability, and even death.

The company’s approach of using immune system analysis and AI to predict and prevent complications aims to improve patient outcomes and allow for a surgical risk-adapted length of hospital stay. This shift towards more personalized and precise care has the potential to save billions of dollars in healthcare spending.

Business Model

While not explicitly stated, Surge’s business model appears to be based on:

1. Selling or licensing its PreCyte predictive test to healthcare providers and hospitals.
2. Offering analytical services through its SurgeLab to research institutions and potentially pharmaceutical companies.
3. Potential licensing of its Stabl AI algorithm to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for biomarker discovery.

Funding and Runway

Surge recently closed a €7.5 million funding round led by Eurazeo, with participation from Kima, Teampact, and MH Innov’, as well as support from historical funds Boutique Venture, HCVC, and 50 Partners Santé. This was the company’s second round of funding.

The fundraising is complemented by grants from BPI, including support for deep tech development and the Future Investment Program, of which Surge was a laureate.

This funding will be used to: - Open SurgeLab - Finalize PreCyte’s industrialization - Refine the company’s AI algorithms - Support commercial expansion

Competitive Landscape

The press release mentions that PreCyte’s initial results demonstrate predictive capacity up to three times higher than existing solutions, indicating there are competitors in the market. However, specific competitors are not named.

Surge’s unique selling proposition appears to be its combination of high-dimensional immune system analysis with advanced AI algorithms, which allows for more accurate and personalized predictions of surgical outcomes.

Customers

While specific customers are not mentioned, the company has partnerships with several renowned institutions including Foch Hospital and AP-HP (Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris). Surge has completed its first large-scale clinical trial validating PreCyte with 283 patients undergoing major surgeries at these institutions.

The company is also deploying its SurgeLab platform with several research institutions to offer unprecedented information density results.

Relevant News

• March 27, 2024: Surge announced the closing of a €7.5 million fundraising round to decrypt the immune system and transform precision medicine.
• January 2024: Surge published an article in Nature Biotechnology highlighting the capabilities of its patented algorithm called Stabl.
• September 25, 2023: Surge and Arkhn won the AI For Health Challenge of the Île-de-France Region with the PRISMA project, an innovative approach to anticipate post-operative risks with Foch Hospital.
• June 2, 2023: Surge was voted Start-up of the year at the French-American Business Awards (FABA) 2023.